Financial Times: EU plans to transfer €15 billion in proceeds from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine

The European Commission plans to collect €15 billion to help Ukraine from the proceeds of Russian assets frozen in the European Union. This plan still needs to be supported by EU member states.

This is reported by the Financial Times with reference to sources.

According to the publication, only revenues from the assets of the Central Bank of Russia will be targeted. First, the European Commission will require that the profit received from the frozen assets be placed in separate accounts. At the second stage of the plan, the profit will be transferred to the general budget of the EU.

According to the European Commission, this will bring up to €3 billion per year, or €15 billion between 2023 and 2027. The amount will depend on the interest rates during this period.

EU member states must unanimously support the plan, as well as further steps to implement it, before the money can be transferred to Ukraine.

• According to the Russian Ministry of Finance, due to Western sanctions, the Kremlin lost access to almost half of its gold and foreign currency reserves, which is about $300 billion out of approximately $640 billion.
• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last month that the EC was working on a proposal to pool some of the proceeds from frozen Russian state assets to aid Ukraine and its post-war reconstruction. According to her, the value of frozen Russian sovereign assets is about €211 billion.